Memo 1

The primary source I will be using for my I-Search paper will be the book, Teaching Adolescent Writers by Kelly Gallagher. In this book, there are a few different points where he talks about his experiences with teacher modeling, but the heart of the information on it comes from chapter three “Beyond the Grecian Urn: The Teacher as a Writing Model.” In this chapter, Gallagher not only talks about modeling writing, but also the importance of modeling revision.

To start off, Gallagher explains that in many things in life, carpentry, waitressing, and acting,  learning and working directly with a master is extremely beneficial, so why not the same be said with writing? He explains that he started off thinking presenting a finished product as a model was the way to teach but realized that showing students that perfection without the steps to get there just freezes them up. So he writes alongside his students and takes them through every step of writing from start to revision.

Gallagher explains that showcasing how to handle the doubts and anxieties of writing in front of students easing them into writing their own work. They can learn the craft along with learning that they are allowed to make mistakes in writing. Gallagher pushes that students need to be broken out of their fears because they hold them back from starting and writing freely. Besides modeling, he also allows his students to create low stakes first drafts and tells them he will not be grading everything they write. This freedom allows students to write unpolished work because according to him, “Students need coaches more than they need critics” (Gallagher 53).

Besides physically writing before his students, Gallagher will talk out writing and urges his students to do the same, possibly using a voice recorder to record their words and then transcribing them. He also provides many graphic organizers during the brainstorming process.

Gallagher also models the revision process to his students along the way. He uses his own first draft as a model to show students the STAR method. STAR stands for Substitute, Take things out, Add, and Rearrange. He goes through his piece and writes where he could do these four things and how. He also works through places where he could strengthen sentences and diction.

Most importantly, Gallagher works with his students “Towards deep revision after they gain confidence” (Gallagher 67). He asks students where they can expand on a single idea in his piece and how he can do so. To train students in creating more precise, less vague content, he will read a vague piece he has written and ask students to ask questions about the piece that they are unclear of such as “How long ago was this?” and “What did you say?”

Overall, this piece was chalked full of information on the ways and benefits of teacher modeling and is a strong primary source for my paper. 

Topic Choosen, Defined, and Explored

It’s here! After much soul searching I have decided on writing my I-Search paper on (drum roll please) the effectiveness of teacher modeling in the classroom!

Thinking back through my own high school English classroom career I never really had a lot of teacher modeling. I can remember back in my sophomore year my American Lit teacher gave us a fill in the blank sheet of paper that we could use as a template for virtually any essay on a book we had to write. 

It would start off like In ____________’s novel ________ the theme of ____________ is shown through _________,___________, and _______________.

No, I’m not kidding.  This is the closest to teacher modeling I’ve had. My school was big on every student writing in TBEAR format, (Topic sentence, briefly explain, Example, Analyze, Relate). This rigid format is so stifling it can complete turn students off to writing, and every teacher enforced it. If they modeled, they modeled all this. Luckily, writing came easy for me and I was able to just ignore this cookie cutter method all together.

But I do wonder what it would have been like if I had a teacher who was sporadic like Kelly Gallagher. Don’t get me wrong, I had some awesome English teachers, some who even inspired me to become an English teacher, but not very many great writing teachers. If I hadn’t been so turned on to writing I probably wouldn’t be as good of a student as I am. It still can take me eight hours to write a five page paper.

So have an animated writing teacher, one who would take risks and put themselves out there in front of the class and just start writing in front of us would have been so cool. It would have strengthened the relationship we, the students, had with the teacher. Teacher will push brainstorming for every single paper, but I have never had a teacher brainstorm writing in front of us. If I had, I feel lie writing wouldn’t be so intimidating to me. For me, starting a paper is hard, I always trip myself up and that’s why it takes forever. I feel like it’s got to be perfect the first time around. If I had a teacher that practiced what they preached and modeled and gave us opportunity to revise, and when I say opportunity, I mean like plan in revision in class time, my formal writing would be stronger.

I feel like teachers know they have to model, and know they have to have students revise, but they all kind of just say the words. So this is why this topic is important to me. This is why I want to write and research this. Because I don’t have a real life example to go off of, I will need to read up and understand modeling in order to be an effective model for my future students.

Choosing Between Two I-Search Topics

For my two possible future I-Search topics, I have narrowed my choice down to either writing about what the benefits of offering students multiple, different forms of writing assignments based around the same topic? Or writing about how teacher models can be effective to teaching beginning writing students how to go about the process of writing. Along with this choice, I would also incorporate creating a safe space in the classroom where writing can blossom.

I am drawn to topic number one because I am a big believer that students can learn in many different ways based on the Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. The theory states that there are seven to nine different ways students can learn that go beyond simply listening to lectures and taking notes. For a quick rundown click the link (http://www.tecweb.org/styles/gardner.html). In a class in high school, my teacher had us take the multiple intelligences test to see how we ourselves learned better. I found my results logical and feel as though knowing this has strengthened my understanding of how to grasp information. However, I haven’t had much experience with teachers adhering to the multiple ways a person learns. I feel as though incorporating this theory into reading and writing will strengthen students understanding of it as well as engage them because they will be given a choice of different ways to approach a project or essay; something students crave.

I feel as though this a viable topic for this class because it is something that touches on many different aspects of a classroom like creating engaging lesson plans, adhering to personalized students’ needs, and getting students excited about learning. These three things are crucial to becoming a great teacher and essential to figure out for a teacher candidate.

I feel as though this is do-able because there is Gardner himself who would act as a primary source, and countless others who agree or disagree with his theory to be my secondary sources. This theory must be taken at least somewhat seriously since I also learned about it in my CEP 315 class. Considering this is a topic I’ve kept in mind since the beginning year of high school I know I must have some sort of passion about it and seems to be something to look into if I wish to continue to keep it in mind as I teach.

As for my second possible choice of how teacher models can be effective to teach beginner writers how to start off writing, I feel as though this is a fresh new idea to me. I was not fortunate enough to have a teacher like Kelly Gallagher who would take the risk of getting up in front of the class and being vulnerable. As far as writing teachers go, I can’t recall any that truly taught me how to write efficiently. For young writers, as well as myself, getting started is the hardest part. They get tripped on how to formally begin and may have the mindset that this is the only draft they are writing. Teacher models can be effective in breaking them out of this habit and lessening the fear of trying to be perfect the first time around. The models double as a chance to create a safe and open environment in a classroom because of the position it puts the teacher in.

As a teacher, I would definitely like to do this modeling for my students, so knowing how to do it better is something I am interesting in, besides the mechanics of it. I’ve already gotten a source from Kelly Gallagher who wrote explicitly on modeling in one of the chapters in Write like This. I could use him as a primary source, or find possibly the first accounts of this way of teaching and use that. Besides this I could search the RIC campus in search of possible professors who do this for incoming freshmen or check out local high schools in the area.

Although I find this topic engaging, and I do believe it could sustain me throughout the rest of the semester, I find myself leaning more towards my first option, but I’m not completely decided.